continued  “We’re ahead of a lot of the others because of that project,” Finkle said.

The remaining points will be based on observations by independent trained evaluators, peer classroom observations, student and parent feedback from evaluators and evidence of performance through student portfolios.

Student achievement in state and local assessments — 40 points

The new agreement calls for the remaining portion of the teacher assessments to be based on students’ scores on state and other tests. Under the plan, school districts will also have the option of using state tests to measure up to 40 percent of a teacher's rating. They also have the option of breaking it up so that only twenty percent of the score will be based on state testing; the other 20 can be based either third party assessments/tests approved by the SED, such as IOWA or TerraNova tests, and locally developed tests that will be subject to SED review and approval.

“In the next few weeks, the state is going to be developing these student learning objectives, or SLOs, where teachers will decide on targeted growth for all of their students,” Finkle said. “So, for example, for a first grade class, in reading, the whole class will have to gain so many levels during the year, and they’ll develop a test to monitor that, and they’ve got to do that for each one of their classes. And the whole class has to show growth. That’s probably where we’re going in North Syracuse.”

The rating system

Teachers who receive a rating of 0 to 64 are considered “ineffective.” Those rated 65 to 74 are considered “developing.” Teachers in those categories will receive assistance and support to improve their performance. If they continue to receive ineffective ratings, they can be removed from the classroom. Those who receive ratings of 75 to 90 are considered “effective,” and teachers rated 91 to 100 are considered “highly effective.”